A group of college students at Bandeirante University (Uniban) in Brazil performed what can only be described as a Biblical skit on Sunday. When Geisy Arruda showed up to class wearing a minidress and “heavy makeup,” hundreds of her fellow students launched into a sexist panic, gathering to gawk at her, physically fighting with her and trying to take pictures between her legs. When a professor tried to protect her in another classroom, 700 students gathered outside, shouting, “Let her out Professor, we want to rape her.” They chanted “puta!” (whore) at her when she finally left.

Uniban then expelled Arruda. Oddly, the university took out an ad in Sao Paolo newspapers Sunday titled “Educational Responsibility – Education Is Made With Attitude Not Complacency,” explaining that Arruda’s dress and actions provoked “a collective reaction in defense of the school environment.”

And what school environment would that be? One wherein students are permitted to threaten another student with rape, apparently. The school’s lawyer Josias de Souza blamed Arruda for the harassment, saying, “she always liked to provoke boys, the problem was not with her clothes, but the way she acts, talks, crosses her legs, and walks.”

The way she crosses her legs.

The incident has made international news. The local stations in DC are covering it, framing the story as one in which “a woman wearing a short skirt caused a riot.” Not one in which a mob whips itself into a violent frenzy over a woman’s perceived transgression, mind you. A rebellious jezebel caused trouble in Brazil. How wacky.

UPDATE: Thanks to reader Eggfulaura for letting us know Arruda has recently been readmitted.

21 Responses to “Sodom and Gomorrah and Uniban”

I haven’t commented on this over at Another Website because I literally am speechless. I cannot make heads or tails of the entire incident. Part of my confusion, and I confess this is based on total second hand and possibly grossly incorrect information, is that I was under the impression that revealing clothing was somewhat common in Brazil? Can anyone speak to this?

“…Arruda’s dress and actions provoked ‘a collective reaction in defense of the school environment.’” Namely: “‘Let her out Professor, we want to rape her.’”

Silly me, I forgot that rape isn’t a violent, dehumanizing crime, but rather a means to ensure a healthy moral school environment. Perhaps I was trying to think and chew gum at the same time and blew a few of the tiny lady-circuits in my brain.

Really though, think about how lax, and accepting the attitude towards rape must be if these students felt free to chant “we want to rape her” to a freakin’ professor. You don’t say such things to an authority figure unless you’re quite sure that there will be no repercussions. Low and behold…

WTF??? I really don’t get it. This is Brazil, home of the infamously tiny Brazilian bikini…guys there are used to seeing women in much skimpier outfits than this all the time. I mean, I’ve seen firsthand how sexist most Latino men are in Central America, and how bad the street harassment is, but I still can’t fathom this. Did you all catch the part where the crowds were loudly chanting “puta” (whore) as she was escorted down the hall and outside.

Seriously. WTF???

and mischiefmanager – no, this was in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city. It’s inland, so far from the famous beaches, but still. Brazil – including Sao Paulo (where several friends of mine have lived) is famous for it’s beautiful women, the men there are used to seeing beautiful women in much skimpier outfits than this.

(added to above for clarification) My rant was not intended to either justify what happened to this woman, or to excuse the harassment that already exists. Just to express my shock and surprise at such an exaggerated response, given the cultural environment. While this would be terrible anywhere, I could at least comprehend that such a reaction could occur in a place such as Saudi Arabia, where men may not have ever seen a woman in a miniskirt before; it just doesn’t make sense here.

My guess is that this is not the first time the woman in question has been harassed by the student body. An uproar of this magnitude requires a lot more than a girl in a mini skirt to get it started. Perhaps the mini skirt was the straw that broke the camel’s back?

I am in no way blaming the woman for the actions of the other students. Many were suspended rightfully… but I think there is a lot more going on behind the scenes than what immediately meets the eye.

I’ve been putting this out there for a while now, but let’s see how the harpies feel:

My current definition of the goal of feminism is a world in which a woman can walk down any street wearing whatever the hell she wants, be it a 4-inch miniskirt or a burka, without being harassed by anyone, and without perceiving herself as threatened.

Egg – An uproar of this magnitude requires a lot more than a girl in a mini skirt to get it started. Perhaps the mini skirt was the straw that broke the camel’s back?

What does that mean? What other straws do you imagine took place? Multiple weeks of wearing miniskirts? She flirted with someone? This makes absolutely no sense as written, if you’re really not victim blaming. The only way those sentences have meaning is if you’re saying her actions provoked this.

It’s great the school changed their stance (an act of defense, wtf???) but I don’t know how she could return to class. I would be terrified to even go near that school again. Good on her for standing up for herself like that and refusing to back down.

I never, not even for a second, condone this type of behavior by anyone anywhere. In a perfect world, this girl could walk where ever she pleases in whatever she chooses to wear without fear of retaliation.
I was just curious about the events and atmosphere that led to her attack and musing “out loud” though my fingers. Reading it over again, I agree that I may have worded it wrong, but I thought I qualified myself in the following sentence by professing my non-victim blaming status. Sorry.

Hey, harpies. I’m Brazilian and an avid reader of this blog (although I usually don’t comment).

I’ll try to explain this big contradiction (although it is quite nonsense to me as well).

Unfortunately, our culture is very male chauvinistic and relies heavily on the objectification of women’s bodies. When you turn on the TV in Brazil at any hour, you’ll see women in reveling clothes, sometimes almost naked. During carnival they ARE actually naked! Some mainstream brazilian movies are filled with hardcore sex scenes, with close-ups of nipples, butts and pubes… But only of women! If you show a tiny bit of male nudity, bet your ass it’s gonna be considered an outrage. But women… Oh, that’s what they’re there for!

It’s also very common for brazilian TV shows to have women in revealing clothing just as props, dancing on the background so that the camera, every now and then, does a close-up under their skirt. Those girls are usually portraited as dumb and constantly sexually available. As a consequence, brazilians always associate any nudity to the intention of turning someone on.

From the outside, I guess it might really seem that all this nudity and semi-nudity of women’s bodies in Brazil means that they can wear whatever they want on the streets wihtout being bothered. If I were foreign, I’d probably think that brazilians are more relaxed and don’t judge people too much on clothing. Too bad that’s far from true.

Most of Brazil’s population declares to be catholic — so, although most don’t actually go to church or agree with the things the pope says, a sort of “catholic mentailty” is very strong here. And you know what that means: women are viewed as sinful and dangerous, provocative — therefore, you gotta restrict her sexuality. The saint/whore dichotomy is INCREDIBLY STRONG in our culture.

So, although we do have all those women in revealing clothing on TV, movies and magazines… They’re just seen as whores. Like: “they are nice to look at, but ones you shouldn’t marry”.

The thing is those “whores” are the standard of beauty offered to all of us. So girls are taught that showing their bodies and looking sexy is a very important thing and that is what they should do to be “feminine” and accepted. However, when you do exactly what you’ve been told all your life, you get punished for that. Like Geisy did. So we, brazilian women, live with this bizarre contradiction: “be sexy! But still look virginal! Unleash men’s desire, but don’t look like a whore!”

The difference between this case and everyday life is that it took huge proportions and became an outrageous case of harassment. But in everyday life, the sad truth is that everyone would just call you a whore behind your back (yup, as is THAT was ok…). So we see comments on brazilians websites condemning the harassment, but ALSO blaming Geisy for her dress. So they agree with the harassers, just disagree with how loud the harassment was.

Marjorie, thanks for the explanation!
While at first glance it seems to make no sense, it’s perfectly understandable. That’s how objectification works. When women are portrayed as objects for male enjoyment and nothing more, people begin treating women as objects for male enjoyment and nothing more.
Sad.

@sarahMC: totally. It’s why I cringe a little every time I hear some woman say that posing for Playboy “empowers” women. Or that if push came to shove they’d rather strip then work for McDonalds even if the pay worked out to be roughly similar because working for a fast food restaurant is less dignified. It’s a fine line between being a sexual being in your own right and being objectified.

@ bluebars — Yeah. It’s a pain in the ass to go to bars and clubs as well. Some guys will grab you by the waist or follow you around or sit on your table without asking for permission. The only way to enjoy a harrassment-free night out is if you have a guy by your side.

@Marjorie, thanks, that was really enlightening. It’s making me reassess a lot of things I saw in Central America in a new light (e.g., the women in skimpy clothing dancing in the background on shows, and the guys who had their ‘virginal’ wives and their ‘whore’ girlfriends on the side).

I had to snort at this though: “The only way to enjoy a harrassment-free night out is if you have a guy by your side.”
Even that’s not enough in Nicaragua. I’ve been hooted/whistled at, had my ass grabbed, even propositioned while arm-in-arm with my novio (who’s a pretty big guy as Nicaraguans go, too).